Abstract
Refugee children can have significant health problems. Our objective was to describe health status and health care utilization of refugee children after resettlement. A retrospective chart review of refugee children was performed. Initial laboratory data was extracted. Primary care visits, emergency room visits, and subspecialty referrals in the first 15 months from arrival were recorded. The sample included 198 refugees, many with positive initial screening tests. After arrival, 21% had an emergency department visit, 40% had a primary care sick visit, and 71% had a primary care follow-up. Mean number of visits ranged from 0.3 for emergency department to 1.9 for follow-up. Fifty-seven percent were referred to at least one subspecialist. Refugee children had substantial disease burden at arrival. Most had primary care follow-up visits and subspecialty referral after resettlement. These visits were largely for problems identified on initial screening and for general pediatric illnesses.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Meropol SB. Health status of pediatric refugees in Buffalo, NY. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1995;149:887–92.
Lifson AR, Thai D, O’Fallon A, Mills WA, Hang K. Prevalence of tuberculosis, hepatitis B virus, and intestinal parasitic infections among refugees to Minnesota. Public Health Rep. 2002;117:69–77.
Hayes EB, Talbot SB, Matheson ES, Pressler HM, Hanna AB, McCarthy CA. Health status of pediatric refugees in Portland, ME. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1998;152:564–8.
Geltman PL, Brown MJ, Cochran J. Lead poisoning among refugee children resettled in Massachusetts, 1995 to 1999. Pediatrics. 2001;108:158–62.
Geltman PL, Radin M, Zhang Z, Cochran J, Meyers AF. Growth status and related medical conditions among refugee children in Massachusetts, 1995–1998. Am J Public Health. 2001;91:1800–5.
Cote S, Geltman P, Nunn M, Lituri K, Henshaw M, Garcia RI. Dental caries of refugee children compared with US children. Pediatrics. 2004;114:e733–40.
Weinstein HM, Sarnoff RH, Gladstone E, Lipson JG. Physical and psychological health issues of resettled refugees in the United States. J Refug Stud. 2000;13:303–27.
McMahon JD, Macfarlane A, Avalos GE, Cantillon P, Murphy AW. A survey of asylum seekers’ general practice service utilisation and morbidity patterns. Ir Med J. 2007;100:461–4.
Fenta H, Hyman I, Noh S. Health service utilization by Ethiopian immigrants and refugees in Toronto. J Immigr Minor Health. 2007;9:349–57.
Power DV, Shandy DJ. Sudanese refugees in a Minnesota family practice clinic. Fam Med. 1998;30:185–9.
Podgore JK, Rene A, Sandhu R, Marshall M. A health assessment of refugee children from former Yugoslavia in Tarrant County. Tex Med. 2003;99:50–3.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recommendations to prevent and control iron deficiency in the United States. MMWR Recomm Rep. 1998;47:1–29.
Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, Rhode Island Department of Health: Childhood lead poisoning in Rhode Island: the numbers 2010 edition: http://www.health.ri.gov/publications/databooks/2010ChildhoodLeadPoisoningInRhodeIsland.pdf (2011). Accessed 4 Jan 2011.
Luo X, Liu G, Frush K, Hey LA. Children’s health insurance status and emergency department utilization in the United States. Pediatrics. 2003;112:314–9.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge Jason T. Machan, PhD for statistical support. We also thank Matt McLaren and the Refugee Resettlement Program of the International Institute of Rhode Island for support of this project.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Watts, DJ., Friedman, J.F., Vivier, P.M. et al. Health Care Utilization of Refugee Children After Resettlement. J Immigrant Minority Health 14, 583–588 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-011-9530-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-011-9530-1